Tales From Pete's World 2 - The Doctor Does Domestic - Again
by SciFiFanForever
Summary: This story follows on from Tales From Pete's World, but also stands alone. Most of the ideas for my stories start by asking a question about the show. This is one of the hardest, what was the Doctor's early life on Gallifrey like? I have recently read Lungbarrow by Marc Platt, a ripping yarn (take notes and read it twice). The canon for his early life is very confusing.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: Dr John Smith and his wife Rose have a newborn son. Rose starts wondering about the Doctor's family and his earlier life on Gallifrey. He decides that it's time she knew, and shows her.

**Chapter 1**

"Give us a long push there Rose," the midwife told Rose as she growled and panted. She was squeezing the Doctor's hand hard, determined that their son was coming out right now.

The midwife lifted a purplish-pink blob from under the water and placed it on Rose's chest. The blob's arms and legs shuddered as it let out a cry, suddenly ceasing to be a blob and becoming a beautiful baby, their beautiful baby.

"Oh Rose! Look what you've done. Look what we've produced," the Doctor said, nearly in tears.

Rose was in tears, elated and exhausted at the same time. She gently stroked her son's back and kissed his head.

"Oh my beautiful little boy," she said. "He's got your hair John," she laughed. The Doctor had taken the name John Smith when he arrived in this alternate world.

Sure enough, where the midwife had gently rubbed him with a towel, he had little, sticky-up tufts of hair.

"Do you have a name for him," the midwife asked them.

They looked at each other and smiled. "Eyulf Jackson," they said together.

"Eyulf, what a great name. I don't think I've heard that name before," the midwife said.

"It's Norwegian," Rose told her. "It means 'lucky wolf'."

John saw the questioning look on the midwife's face.

"Wolves have played an important part in our lives," he told her. "And Jackson is in honour of a very good friend of ours."

Rose's emotions were all over the place. She remembered when her brother was born and she had thought she would never hold her own child. All the trials and tribulations that led to this moment came flooding back, the lever room, the beach in Norway, her exile in this world.

All those jumps with the dimension cannon to find her love, only to see him shot by a Dalek. Seeing his despair at the accusation of Davros and their impending doom at the hands of the Daleks. And then the miracle happened. His twin saving them, his twin who wasn't a twin.

Her 'mirror man' who was the same man, definitely and absolutely the same man, the man that she loved. And against all the odds, this little bundle of Gallifreyan humanity on her chest was their forever that she had promised him all those years ago.

She reached up and stroked his cheek, turning her head to see his wonderful, contented smile. She showed him the smile that she saved only for him, the smile that lit up a room.

He leaned forwards and gave her a long, glorious, loving kiss.

"I love you Rose Tyler."

"I love you Doctor, forever."

The midwife had clamped off the umbilical cord and held out a pair of surgical scissors to John.

"Would 'Dad' like to cut the cord?" she asked them.

John's smile spread across his face. "Dad, that's me! I'm his Dad."

Rose gave a laugh at his realisation and watched him carefully cut through the 'rope' of tissue.

"If you get out of the pool now John and get dressed, you can hold him while I help Rose out," the midwife suggested.

He pushed himself up from behind Rose where she had been lying back against him and stepped out of the pool. He went into a small cubicle, removed his swimming trunks, dried himself off and put on his tracksuit.

When he returned to the small pool, baby Eyulf was wrapped in a white towel waiting for him. He sat in one of the comfortable chairs and cradled him in his elbow, watching Rose ease herself out of the pool.

She was wearing an oversized T-shirt that clung seductively to her body. There was a print of Homer Simpson holding his head saying 'DOH!' John grinned as he noticed that one of Homer's eyes was directly over one of Rose's nipples.

"Watcha grinnin' at?" she asked him as she noticed him oggling her body.

"Homer's got an eyeful," he laughed.

She looked down and started to laugh at the sight, as did the midwife.

"Come on Rose, let's get you dried off and in some pyjamas," the midwife said, still chuckling at the T-shirt.

Rose was sitting up in bed in her private room, nursing her newborn son. They had decided to call him 'EJ' for short, and he was noisily enjoying his breakfast with snuffling, slurping and um, um, um noises.

John was sat in a chair mesmerised by the scene of his beautiful wife feeding his beautiful son. There was a gentle tap on the door and a nurse popped her head around the door.

"How's it going Rose? Is he feeding well?" she asked.

Rose looked down as EJ was coming to the end of his feed and then looked up to the nurse, grinning. "He's doin' fine. Just gotta burp him now."

"Ooh, can I do it?" John asked, jumping up out of the chair.

Rose rolled her eyes and smiled at him. "Yeah, go on then. I'll make the most of this 'til the novelty wears off," she laughed.

The nurse gave a little laugh. "Your family are here Rose. Would you like me to show them in?"

"Oh yes please," she said as she buttoned up her fluffy yellow pyjamas.

There was a loud belch from EJ, who startled himself with the noise, as Pete, Jackie and Tony entered the room. Tony was holding a blue foil balloon that said 'Congratulations. It's a boy!'

"That's better out than in," Jackie said with a laugh.

Pete and Jackie went to the bed and kissed Rose on the cheek. They had a card and some flowers for her.

"How are ya sweetheart? Was it alright? Not too long was it?" Jackie asked her as they looked over at John patting EJ on the back as he rested over his shoulder.

"It was fine Mum. He came out quite quickly. Impatient like his father," she said with a smile aimed at John.

"Would you like to hold him?" John asked Jackie as he brought him back to the cradle of his elbow.

Jackie sat down in the chair and held out her hands to receive her one and only grandson.

"Eyulf Jack Smith, this is your Grandmother," John announced as he lowered him into the waiting arms.

"Oh Rose, he's gorgeous. Look at his hair," she cooed. EJ was scrutinising the face in front of him like newborns do.

Pete gently slapped John on the back and gave him a 'well done' smile.

"Eyulf Jack?" Pete said. "Good name for a Smith," he told him.

"It means 'lucky wolf' in Norwegian. We thought after all that the name 'bad wolf' has done for us, it was about time we changed it to 'lucky wolf'," John told them.

"And Jack Harkness was such a good friend to us that we wanted to remember him in the name Jackson," Rose added. John had walked over and sat on the bed, holding Rose's hand. Tony came over and climbed up next to John to give them the balloon.

"Is he my brother? Will I be able to play with him?" Tony asked. "I want to teach him how to play football."

John ruffled Tony's hair and Rose hugged him.

"You're his uncle really," Rose told him. "But I bet you'll be more like brothers. And when he grows up a bit, I bet he'll love for you to teach him football."

Pete had a cuddle as the proud granddad, and Tony laughed as EJ gripped his offered index finger.

They chatted and had a cup of tea off the trolley that was wheeled into the room. Rose was surprised that this tea didn't stick to the roof of her mouth. Tony chose a bottle of Vitex cherry drink off the trolley and proudly told the volunteer that his daddy made it.

"Oh, of course. Mr and Mrs. Tyler, it's a real pleasure to meet you," the woman said. "And this must be your grandson. You must be very proud."

"It's nice to meet you," Jackie said. "And we are very proud, yes. Oh, and a lovely cup of tea by the way," she added.

The look of pride on the woman's face filled the room. "Very nice of you to say so," she said as she left them to their celebrations.

"So when do you get to go home then?" Jackie asked Rose.

"The consultant will do his rounds after lunch, check EJ over and then if everythin's OK, we can go," she replied.

"We'll leave you to get some rest then and talk to ya later." Jackie had a final cuddle of her grandson, kissed his head and handed him back to Rose. After kissing and hugging, the Tylers left the room and John continued to sit, holding Rose's hand and stroking his son's back.

The Smith's residence was a stunning interior designed Victorian house in Northumberland Place, one of the prettiest tree lined streets in Notting Hill, situated at the heart of Artesian village.

It was a white fronted town house with black railings and columns either side of the door. Unusually, it had a space at the front for parking Delores the Delorian.

They had a bespoke Bulthaup kitchen/dining room which lead to a decked garden. The raised ground floor double reception room had the traditional high ceilings, with intricate ceiling roses and cornicing, feature fireplaces and traditional shutters on the windows. This was their living room where they watched TV and listened to music while cuddling on the comfy sofa.

The first floor had a master suite and two double bedrooms, one of which had been converted into the nursery. Naturally it had a time and space theme to it, with glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling which accurately depicted the constellations in the night sky. On the border around the room, John had drawn Gallifreyan symbols that told the story of their arrival in 'Pete's World'.

The studies on the ground and first floors were an office for Rose and John respectively and one of the three spacious storage vaults to the front of the house had been converted into a laboratory/workshop for John.

The whole house had a 'brain' like the Delorian and took care of security, lighting, heating, multimedia, robotic vacuum cleaners, etc, so as John and Rose walked up the steps, the security camera identified them and opened the door for them.

John had explained to Rose that like the TARDIS, the chapter houses on Gallifrey were grown and had sentience and personality. They had joked about creating a personality for their house. Rose suggested Jack Harkness and burst into fits of laughter when John said he would not live in a house that kept flirting with him every five minutes.

But really, there was only one choice for their house; they both agreed it was a fitting tribute.

"Welcome home," Donna Noble's voice said. "Would you like me to put the kettle on?"

"Ooh, that would be lovely," Rose said as she dropped her bag in the hall. John was carrying EJ in the baby car seat which converted into a carrycot, and set him down by the sofa.

"Make yourself comfortable love, I'll go and make the tea." He gave her a quick snog and went through to the kitchen.

"Mmmm," she said as he left the room. "TV, sky news please Donna."

Rose took EJ out of the carrycot and started to unwrap him from his outdoor all-in-one as the TV switched on.

"Is that the new arrival?" Donna-the-house asked.

Rose propped EJ on her knee, facing one of the discrete cameras in the room. "Yes Donna, this is EJ."

"Ooh, he's so cute. Welcome home EJ."

John came in from the kitchen and placed the mugs on the low table in front of the sofa before sitting on the sofa and cuddling up. After finishing their mugs of tea, Rose looked into John's eyes.

When she had gone into labour that morning, she told him she hadn't done this before and she was scared. He had absently said that he had and that she would be fine.

She asked him if he would ever tell her about him being a dad and he said he would, but now... It didn't seem important. He obviously didn't want to talk about it, and she didn't want to cause him any pain by remembering things and people long gone.

"John? you know when you said you had done this before, and I asked if you would tell me about it? Well, you don't have to. I'll understand if it's all too much for you."

He rested his head against hers and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Rose," he said quietly, his voice almost breaking. "I really don't deserve you. You are the most caring and compassionate person I think I have ever met. Single handedly, you alone have taught me what it is to be human. And you are my wife, you need to know my past, how it shaped me into the person you came to love."

"I need to explain some things first. Do you want a beer or a glass of wine?" he asked her.

"Y'know, I haven't had a drink for nine months. An ice cold beer would be brilliant," she said as she gently rocked the sleeping EJ.

John went to the fridge and poured a couple of beers into glasses and came back to cuddle Rose after handing her the beer.

"You know my Gallifreyan name translates as {Born with a heart for fearless adventure, destined to make things better}?" he asked her.

Rose nodded; she got all that when he gave her his Gallifreyan name after their wedding, the definition of the translation changed every time she said the name. It was a 'Gallifreyan thing'.

"Well, my family name is Lungbarrow. For millennia, Gallifreyan's we were afflicted by a sort of 'curse', an inability to reproduce naturally. Rassilon, the founder of the Time Lord dynasty, instigated a genetic splicing technique that allowed parents to have their TNA combined in vitro and embryos to be nurtured in 'looms'. Each chapter house had its own loom."

They took a sip of their beers before he continued. Rose was silent, hanging on every word. It was the most he had ever told her about his life back home, and there was more to come.

"Now, the weird thing is, I seem to have had two childhoods," he told her in all seriousness. "One before the infertility, and one after."

Rose sputtered her beer. "Wha'? Two? How is that even possible?" she asked, and then said. "Don't tell me; let me guess, 'it's complicated'."

John grinned at her, his eyes sparkling. "It must have been, because I don't know why I have two lots of memories." He remembered a time when he was travelling with Martha and a young woman stopped him in the street.

"Do you remember me telling you about the 'weeping angels' that stole the TARDIS that once?" he asked her.

"Yeah, you said someone gave you a message to give back to them in the future, I think. What's that got to do with having two childhoods?"

"It was Sally Sparrow, I remember telling her 'look, sorry, I've got a bit of a complex life. Things don't always happen to me in quite the right order'," he explained.

"And do you think that's what happened to your childhood?"

"It could be, similar to your childhood really, when your Mum told you about the woman who held your Dad's hand when he died."

"Oh yeah, I see what you mean." It had been Rose that her Mum had seen.

"Well, I digress."

"As usual," she said with a grin.

"Let's start with my first memories. As my name suggests, I was a bit of a 'wild child', I got that from my father, Ulysses. My mother, Penelope, was a science lecturer and had infinite patience with me."

John sighed and had a sad look on his face. "I must have been a great disappointment to her."

Rose immediately squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek. "You stop that right now mister. Don't forget, I saw a world without you when Donna couldn't save you. It was a hell on Earth. OK, people died, but the civilisations, the worlds, even the universes you've saved, any mother would be proud of a son who had achieved all that."

Rose was referring to the time when she had met Donna Noble using the 'dimension cannon' and she had a 'time-beetle' on her back that was causing an alternate time line.

"Aw, there you go again Rose, seeing the best in people. But you haven't heard the whole of the story yet. By the way, are you going to be OK with me telling you about the 'other women' in my life?" he asked her.

Rose was curled up on the sofa, leaning against his chest. She looked up at him and smiled. "What, like Sarah Jane and Rennette?" she replied, sipping her beer.

He ran his hand through his hair. "Welll, sort of, but these were my first loves."

Rose stroked his cheek. "You know about Jimmy and Mickey, they were before I met you. Are you OK with that?"

"Actually, I feel a bit guilty about Mickey. I feel like I stole his girl from him," he told her, pulling his ear.

"NO! Don't go there," she told him. "Me an' Mickey had a good time an' all that, but it was comfortable, y'know convenient. We were never goin' to set the world on fire."

She gave him her tongue through the teeth smile. "You on the other hand, you set my whole universe on fire."

He leant forward and snogged her before continuing.

"Another chapter house on Gallifrey was Blyledge, it was an old family, one of the senior members of the Prydon Chapter. They were a bit snobbish and the Lungbarrows never really got on with them, except for a niece of old man Blyledge." He waggled his eyebrows at Rose.

"I saw our timelines, that they could converge, but I didn't seem to be able to attract her attention. I was a bit of a 'wet' teenager back then." John stopped talking and a grin started to spread across his face.

"Y'know Rose, rather than tell you about all this, why don't I show you?" he said.

"Show me? What d'ya mean?" she asked him.

"I can relive the events in my mind with you in there as well, it'll only take a couple of minutes and you can get all of the events, the dialogue and emotions," he told her.

"I don't know. Is it safe? Will EJ be alright while we're in there?" she asked.

"It's perfectly safe. You'll still be aware of everything going on in the room; it'll be just like watching a play on TV."

"Yeah, OK then, I'll give it a go."

They finished their beers and then, still cradling EJ, she sat facing John. He put his fingers on her temples and gently invited her into his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: This chapter deals with his parentage mentioned on the Tardis Data Core from The Gallifrey Chronicles novel. Many thanks to Mr. W. Shakespear for the plot idea.

**Chapter 2**

They were standing in the pedestrian square of a large city, with fountains, raised flower beds and trees all around. Rose was turning in a slow circle taking in the scene; EJ was asleep in her arms.

"Oh, this is beautiful John. Look at that sky," Rose said. Between the skyscrapers she could see the orange sky. The upper city spanned the lower on vast arches. These were crowned by further arches and bridges, all of them carrying buildings and gardens, domes and belfries. "Where are we?"

"We're in the old Citadel on Gallifrey," he replied quietly. Rose saw that he had a sad, melancholy look in his moist eyes.

"Oh John! This must be so hard for you. Are you sure you want to do this?" Rose asked him.

He took a deep breath in and smiled at her. "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just a memory, took me by surprise is all." He started to look around the square.

"Ah, there I am, over there." He took her hand and walked across the square to a Gallifreyan version of a coffee shop with tables and chairs outside.

"Which one's you?" she whispered.

John pointed to a skinny youth with black hair, swept back off his high forehead and a distinctive aquiline nose. He was sitting with group of ten youths who were laughing and joking with each other.

"That's a different look for you," Rose said. "Those striking features are quite handsome."

"Thank you," John said waggling his eyebrows and grinning.

"Who're the other guys?" Rose asked with interest.

"They are the other members of what became known as the Deca, ten friends who studied together at the academy. They are teasing me about my shyness with the opposite sex, except for my friend Koshei, I think he's giving me some advice on how to catch the eye of Rassalia. She was my first crush."

John and Rose took seats at a table next to them and eavesdropped in on the conversation.

"Have you just tried going up to her and asking her out?" Koschei asked the First Doctor.

"Welllll," He ran his hand through his hair, sweeping it back over his head.

Rose giggled at the gesture. "You still do that," she whispered.

The First Doctor continued. "I did try to position myself once so that she would walk by me, but she looked at me with those emerald eyes and smiled at me and... and, I lost control of my tongue. My hearts were pounding and I thought I was going to faint."

Rose snorted a laugh and John looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," she laughed. "It's just that, thousands of light years from Earth, teenage lads still can't ask a girl out."

"I'll have you know that for a teenage lad with no confidence, asking a girl out is scarier than pinning a tail on a Dalek," he told her in all seriousness. "It's alright for you girls, you just have to stand about fluttering your eyelashes and wait to be asked. You hold dominion over our futures with a simple yes or no. Anyway, shush, you're missing the plot."

"I know! The Blyledge's are throwing one of their famous parties soon, she's bound to be there, being a niece and all," Koschei said.

"And how is a Lungbarrow going to get invited to one of their parties? They hate the sight of us, and if I try to gatecrash those brothers will really enjoy pounding me into the dirt," the First Doctor replied.

"Ooh, you're always so negative. I don't know why I bother. Look, the Hot Five have got an invite to do the gig there, apparently Blyledge's daughter is a fan of our music," Koschei told him.

The Hot Five was their college band where Koschei played drums and the First Doctor played a rhythm guitar-like instrument along with three other college friends playing lead, bass and keyboard.

"You've got a good friend there John," Rose smiled.

John's face was sad with a faraway look in his eyes. "Had a good friend Rose, had. This was a long time ago and people change."

John's memories now jumped forwards to the night of the party, and they were standing in a large ballroom in what appeared to be a palace, surrounded by hundreds of party goers.

The Hot Five band was playing a pleasant mix of background music while guests helped themselves to drinks and nibbles before the dancing started. The band leader Rallon announced that they were taking a short break before they started playing some of their popular college hits.

They went to the drinks table to get some refreshments. The First Doctor was looking around for the target of his affections.

He leaned towards Koschei. "Can you see her anywhere?" he asked.

"Hang on," Koschei said. "Ushas, can you see Rasshalia anywhere?"

Ushas was the bass player and stood head and shoulders above the rest of them. He bobbed his head around looking over the crowd.

"Just coming into the room from the direction of the bathroom and heading this way," he told them, pointing in the direction that she was approaching from.

Koschei slapped the First Doctor on the back. "OK, here you go. Good luck."

The First Doctor started stalking his prey through the throng of guest, while trying to avoid being spotted by a member of the Blyledge family. The target of his affection was a pretty young woman with dark copper hair and iridescent green eyes.

"I can see why you had a crush on her," Rose said. "She's stunning."

He was passing the table that contained bottles of drinks and bowls of punch. He was getting closer to the object of his desire, and if he could move around the table at the right moment he could ask her if she wanted a drink. Brilliant!

Just as he was about to make his move, a young woman slipped on the floor where a drink had been spilt. He caught her by the elbow and steadied her before she could fall over.

"Careful," he said as he brought her upright. 'Wow', he thought to himself as he felt time surge through his body, 'what was that'?

"Th.. thank you," the woman said as he stood up and looked into her eyes.

They had both felt it, the converging of their timelines into a fixed point. Rose could see something pass between them in that look.

"Hello," the First Doctor said simply, smiling like an idiot.

"Hello," the young woman replied, smiling back.

Rose looked at John, uncertain as to the turn of events. He had tears in his eyes.

"Rose, meet my first wife, Juleshka," he said.

"Wha? I thought it was the red head over there," she said looking over her shoulder.

"So did I, until I literally bumped into this beauty here," he said with a warm smile on his face.

Rose came and gave his hand a squeeze as she inspected his first wife. She was a dead ringer for a young Audrey Hepburn with shoulder length wavy brown hair.

Flustered, the First Doctor quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped the floor. "Well, that should stop anyone else from slipping," he said, dropping the wet napkin onto a dirty plate.

"And does the man who saved me from a fall have a name?" she asked him.

He had to think quick. If he gave her his real name, he would be found out and pounded to a pulp by the Blyledge brothers.

"Er, I'm the Doctor," he said.

"Doctor who?" she asked with a smile.

"Now there's a question. Just the Doctor for now," he said with an air of mystery.

The young woman smiled at him coyly. "Well, 'Just The Doctor For Now', maybe I could find out later."

"Er, yes, maybe you could," he squeaked.

Rose grinned. "Now that was better, your tongue was workin' properly then."

"Yeah, unfortunately talking to her just seemed so natural."

"What d'ya mean 'unfortunately'?" Rose asked with a puzzled expression.

"It was complicated, here, I'll show you." John jumped forward in his memories to the next day at the academy, where he was talking to Koschei.

"Are you crazy?!" Koschei was asking him. "Do you know who she is?"

"She's the girl I'm going to marry," the First Doctor said with a dreamy smile.

Koschei screwed up his eyes and rubbed his temples. "You can't you idiot! She's the daughter of old man Blyledge, who is to be married to the heir of Brightshore. It's all about the wealth and the power," he told him.

"You still getting those drumming headaches?" the First Doctor asked his friend as he watched him pop a tablet out of a foil packet and swallow it.

"Yeah, and you flirting with Blyledge's daughter isn't helping," he said with a weak smile.

John turned to Rose. "This incident put a strain on our friendship from then on. Also, I think the medication he was on for his mysterious headaches changed his character. We started to drift apart after this."

"With all this animosity between the families, how did you convince her parents to let you marry her?" Rose asked.

John's memories went back to the Blyledge's mansion. The First Doctor stood hand in hand with Juleshka facing her disapproving parents. Lord Blyledge was a short, balding, plump man with a look of contempt on his face.

"You want to marry this... this... musician?!" he said incredulously.

"I'm not a musician," the First Doctor said. "Well, actually I suppose I am really. But that's just my hobby; I'm a student at..."

"BE SILENT YOU IMBECILE!" Blyledge shouted. "My daughter is marrying the heir of Brightshore. The arrangements are already being made as we speak."

"But father, our timelines converged, we felt it. Who are we to defy a fixed point in time?" Juleshka pleaded.

Lady Blylege, who Rose thought resembled a heron, spoke to her daughter. "Juleshka my dear, your future lies with the Brightshores, not with the... Lungbarrows." She said the name with disgust.

"But mother..." she started.

"We have spoken! You will go to your room, and you young man will be escorted off the premises by my security," Lord Blyledge said with authority. "And if I see you around here again, I'll have you arrested for trespassing."

Juleshka looked back at the First Doctor with tears in her eyes as Lady Blyledge led her daughter towards the door. The First Doctor's face was like thunder. Rose had seen that look in his eyes before, in his ninth and tenth incarnation, when there was an injustice to be put right.

Blyledge clicked his fingers in the air and a security guard approached. "Have him thrown out, and don't be gentle."

The First Doctor allowed himself to be dragged out of the room, but his eyes never left Blyledge's. He had 'that' smile on his face, the one that said 'you'll regret crossing me'.

Rose looked up at John with a worried expression, but John was smiling. He saw her looking at him. "Hey, don't look so worried. Did I tell you I was a bit of a 'wild child'?"

He took her hand and stepped forwards into another memory. They were now in a kitchen and an attractive redheaded woman was dabbing the First Doctor's bruised and bloodied lip with a clean cloth dipped in an antiseptic liquid.

"Rose, this is my mother, Penelope," John told her.

Rose looked at the woman tending to her son. She had beautiful, wavy red hair that reached past her shoulders. Her eyes were steel blue that radiated kindness and concern, her lips were full and had a warm, comforting smile.

"It didn't go well then?" she asked her son. He winced as the stinging cloth touched his injured lip.

"You could say that," he replied. "More accurately though, it didn't go at all."

A grey haired, grey bearded man walk into the kitchen. "We did try to warn you," he said. "I've known that pompous, egotistical, intolerant little shit for more years than I care to remember."

John laughed at that statement. "And this Rose, is my Father, Ulysses."

The first thing Rose noticed were the eyes, he had John's eyes. No actually, John had his father's eyes, they were brown and intense. He had a square jaw framed by a neatly trimmed beard, and a mouth that would easily crack into a smile.

"So is that it then? You going to let that little shit call the shots?" his father asked him.

"Ule!" Penelope chastised, but her son was already primed.

"Like hell I am! It's like I told you, when we touched, I felt the whole of time and space pass between us, through us. No one, and I mean no one is going to come between us," he said.

His father slapped him on his back, making him wince. "That's my boy," he said with a huge grin and a twinkle in his eye. Rose had seen that look before as well.

"I like him," Rose said. "I can see a lot of you in him."

"Yeah, he was great," John said simply.

"So what happens next?" Rose asked excitedly.

They were outside the Blyledge mansion at night. A dark figure flitted across the lawns from one privet bush to the next until he reached the exterior wall next to where John and Rose were standing.

He took a briefcase sized pack off his back and put it on the ground under a window, opened it and started to pull out a ladder. It went up and up to the first floor window.

John saw Rose's eyes wide in wonder. "Time Lord technology," he said with a grin. "It's bigger on the inside."

The dark figure shimmied up the ladder and gently tapped the window. The window opened and a bag was passed out, which was taken down by the dark figure. Another dark figure climbed out of the window and descended the ladder into a passionate kiss and embrace.

The ladder was reeled back into the backpack and, hand-in-hand they sneaked back the way he had come.

"You're elopin'!" Rose said incredulously.

"Yep!" John said with a grin, popping the 'p'.

Rose and John were now sitting in the backseat of a vehicle parked outside Blyledge House, as the two figures approached and got into the front seats. They removed their balaclava hoods and grinned at each other. The First Doctor pulled Juleshka into a snog which made Rose blush.

"Is it gettin' warm in here?" Rose asked. John just laughed.

"Mmmm, we [kiss], really [kiss], need to get [kiss], going [kiss]." Juleshka said breathlessly.

"Oh, yes, right," the First Doctor replied. He switched on the vehicle and it silently pulled away.

It was now daylight and Rose could see they were approaching a small town in the distance. They were driving past fields of red grass and woods of silver leaved trees. In the centre of town they found a vehicle park that was attached to the municipal building.

Rose and John trailed behind the First Doctor and Juleshka as they walked down a passage way onto the main street. At the steps leading into the municipal building they saw some familiar faces.

Ulysses took his son's hand and then pulled him into a hug. Penelope kissed and hugged Juleshka. As the First Doctor hugged and kissed his mother, Ulysses kissed his soon to be daughter-in-law.

"How's your father?" he asked her with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"As intransigent as ever," she said, rolling her eyes and smiling.

Ulysses chuckled. "Well, his loss is our gain. Come on, there are some changing rooms inside."

"Who's the guy with the moustache?" Rose asked.

"Oh, that's my brother Braxiatel, he's my best man," John told her.

"You're getting married? Here? Now? Oh that's brilliant!" Rose said and then realised what he had just said. "You have a brother!? You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

Juleshka was wearing a traditional blue, Gallifreyan gown that fastened over one shoulder. The silver belt had a round buckle that was a Gallifreyan symbol. The First Doctor wore traditional deep red trousers and tunic, over which he wore an open coat of the same colour with a wide golden border inscribed with Gallifreyan writing.

John and Rose sat at the back of the room, hand-in-hand, watching the ceremony. The cardinal wrapped a strip of golden cloth around Jueshka's hand and she held it out towards the First Doctor. He took the end of the cloth and wrapped it around his own hand.

"Who speaks for the bride?" the cardinal asked.

Braxiatel stepped forwards. "I consent and gladly give," he chanted.

"Who speaks for the groom?" the cardinal asked again.

Ulysses stepped forwards, beaming a smile at them. "I consent and gladly give."

Penelope also stepped forward. "I consent and gladly give," she said with solemnity.

"The couple will now exchange that which no other may know," the cardinal announced.

The First Doctor leaned forwards and whispered in Juleshka's ear. Rose saw a smile spread across her face. She then leaned forwards and whispered in the First Doctor's ear. He waggled his eyebrows and grinned in a way that Rose immediately recognised. It may have been a different face, but the mannerisms were the same.

The cardinal smiled at them both. "You may now kiss, husband and wife."

The First Doctor cupped her face in his hands and gently brushed her lips with his. He tilted his head and did it again with more pressure, and then again until they were in a full blown snog-fest.

Ulysses pulled Penelope close and snogged her, and John put his arm around Rose and snogged her.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Rose finally finds out why the Doctor was reluctant to commit to a relationship. Descriptions of Lungbarrow House are from the novel Lungbarrow by Marc Platt. (If you are interested, I borrowed the funeral speech from the Tao Te Ching.)

**Chapter 3**

"WHERE IS SHE?" Blyledge shouted as he tried to push through the door of Lungbarrow house.

He met the immovable wall of Ulysses, who was taller and more muscular.

"Blyledge old man. Fancy seeing you here. I don't think you've darkened our door before, have you?" Ulysses said sarcastically.

"You can cut the crap Lungbarrow. Where's my daughter?" he raged.

"My daughter-in-law and my son are preparing to leave for their honeymoon. It's a pity you couldn't make it to the wedding, but you weren't invited. They wanted it to be a happy occasion."

Oh he was enjoying this; the pompous old sod looked like he was fit to explode.

"MARRIED! IMPOSSIBLE!" he shouted.

"Is everything alright dear?" Penelope asked, walking to the door and standing beside her husband. "Oh hello Blyledge, how's that shrew of a wife of yours? Still spreading malicious gossip these days?"

"Penelope!" her husband's eyebrows were raised in surprise. He rarely heard her speak ill of anyone.

"I'LL HAVE THE SHAM OF A MARRIAGE ANNULLED!" the red faced man declared.

"Oh I don't think so," Ulysses told him quietly. "When they told me their plan to wed, I pre-registered the request with a cardinal and made all the preparations for them. I'm afraid everything is legal and air tight. They are married, and that's that."

"Oh, hello Daddy," Juleshka said as she squeezed between her parents-in-law. "I thought I heard your voice, have you come to wish us well?"

"WISH YOU WELL...!?"

"Oh thank you Daddy," She reached up, pecked him on the cheek and disappeared back inside the house before he could continue.

Blyledge was speechless. He'd been completely outmaneuvered.

"Well, if that's everything old man," Ulysses said in a friendly tone. "You'd best be going, or would you like my son to escort you off the property? I'm sure he would love to return the favour." He gently closed the large door in the man's very red, almost purple face.

Ulysses lifted Penelope off the floor in a hug and spun her around.

Rose jumped up and down on the spot applauding. "Oh that was SO satisfyin'," she said. She turned and hugged John around the neck.

"So you're OK with watching your husband and his first wife getting married and going on honeymoon?" John asked her.

"Yeah, it's just so good to see you having a family life after all that time alone on the TARDIS. You never told me about any of this," she told him.

She started to look around the opulent surroundings, realising that she was in some sort of palace.

"Where exactly are we John?"

He gave her one of his grins. "This is the chapter house of the Lungbarrow family, my home where I grew up," he told her.

They were now standing at a window looking out over flower beds, red grassed lawns, and a magnificent view of the Cadonflood river valley beyond.

"The house is situated on the slopes of Lung Mountain in the Cadon range, and I have a suite of rooms here, as does my brother."

"You call this a house?" she said incredulously. "It's a bleedin' palace."

John looked around and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose it is. Like a TARDIS, it's bigger on the inside, and this was in its hay day before the fall of Pythia."

They saw the First Doctor and Juleshka come down the stairs with some cases and stop by the front door. They went out to the vehicle and loaded the cases in the boot. Hugging his parents, they said goodbye and drove off towards the coast and a memorable honeymoon.

John and Rose walked right through the window into the gardens. They could do that in a memory.

"I don't think we need to see the honeymoon," John said, waggling his eyebrows.

Rose giggled. "Certainly not, especially if it's anythin' like ours," she said with her tongue in teeth smile.

Arm in arm they ambled across the lawn towards an orchard where magenta fruits were ripening. Alien insects hummed and buzzed around the trees and bushes, as birds sang their songs of ownership and courtship.

"It's so peaceful here, you must have had a lovely childhood," Rose said with a contented sigh.

Suddenly, the laughter of children could be heard from the lawn behind them. Rose could see the First Doctor as a child with his brother and friends, playing with a floating ball that flitted about, trying not to be caught.

They faded as the scene changed to a dark night on the side of a mountain. A man and a boy were sitting on rocks looking up at the night sky, a small camp was nearby with a portable stove and rigid tent.

"My Dad brought me up here to see the meteor shower," John told her as he put an arm around her shoulders.

As they looked up, they saw multi-coloured streaks of light shoot across the sky. The look of wonder sparkled in the boys eyes as they reflected the celestial light show. Ulysses put an arm around his son's shoulder and pulled him in close, kissing him lovingly on the top of his head.

Rose realised that he was showing her some of his favourite memories, as you would when looking through an old family photo album. And she loved him for it, for finally letting go of his fear and trusting her to see him for who he was (whoever that might be).

They heard a faint 'phutt-phutt' sound and then the smell hit them.

"Ugh! I didn't know you got smells in memories, I suppose that answers the question of whether bears shit in the woods," Rose said with a laugh.

John gave a laugh and nodded at the bundle in her arms. "That's no bear, that's our son."

They were sat on their comfy sofa in their living room and Rose lifted EJ up and sniffed his bottom, immediately wishing she hadn't.

"Phew!" she laughed. "Time for a nappy change I think."

"You pop his baby-grow off and I'll get the changing mat and box," John suggested.

A smell of freshly cut flowers permeated the room. "I've turned up the air recycling," Donna-the-house announced.

"Thanks Donna, you're a star," Rose replied.

After John had finished blowing raspberries on EJ's belly, he fastened up his baby-grow and joined Rose on the sofa. He couldn't resist picking up his son and cradling him in the crook of his elbow. The look of contentment on his face almost made Rose cry.

They were back in Lungbarrow House, where they could see the First Doctor and his wife sitting on a sofa, with other people standing by them looking at a small bundle in the First Doctor's arms. Orange sunlight was shining through the windows, giving the room a warm glow.

Rose walked over to the group and watched as the First Doctor handed a baby to his mother to hold.

"And who's this then?" Rose asked John.

"Oh she's gorgeous," Penelope cooed. "Hello granddaughter."

"That Rose, is my daughter, Challessetianelopeshkaturgrathadeyyilungbarrowmas, " John told her. Rose peeked over Penelope's shoulder to get a better look. "Challese for short."

"Ahhh, she's so cute," Rose said.

"Yeah. These were happy times for us, I always remember this period with a smile."

Rose looked closely at John's face. It was different, the dark, brooding, haunted look that was always behind his eyes, even when he smiled, was gone. It had been replaced by a look of peace and tranquillity. These memories were actually therapeutic and Rose wanted more for him.

"D'ya have other happy memories that you can show me?" Rose asked, smiling fondly at her husband.

"Yeah, hundreds of years of them," he told her and proceeded to show her Challese growing up through her prolonged Gallifreyan childhood.

They faded into an apartment of rooms in the house where the First Doctor and Juleshka were sat on the floor as their daughter took her first faltering steps from one to the other.

Now, Challese was a toddler in the park, being pushed on a swing by her father, with a now pregnant Juleshka sitting on a bench watching them fondly.

"You're havin' another one?" Rose asked with her voice full of surprise. She had never really thought that he might have a large family. "How many kids have you got?"

A fleeting emotion showed on his face as he was about to correct her present tense to past, but he thought better of it. She was having such a good time exploring his memories.

"We had two daughters and two sons. That 'bump' there is our first son," he said with a smile. He looked down at Rose and found that he couldn't read her expression.

"Are you sure you're OK with this?" Rose shuddered out of her thoughts.

"Wha? Oh, yeah. It was just that I never really thought of you havin' a life before the TARDIS is all. I've only ever known you in the TARDIS."

"Well watch and learn." He gave her a wink and a grin as she saw each of the remaining children appear. His son Arren, another son Jarred and then a daughter Penni (all abbreviated from their full names).

Rose noted without comment that Juleshka had wisps of grey hair appearing in her wavy brown locks and laughter lines were becoming more prominent.

John led her by the hand on to a beach where the children were making sand sculptures, playing with a ball and splashing in the surf. Juleshka was on a sun lounger and the First Doctor was sketching in a large art book. It was obviously a family holiday.

Rose walked around and looked at the sketches the First Doctor had done. He had captured Juleshka's beauty, with a serene smile on her face. The children were full of energy and motion, Rose fully expected them to run off the paper.

"John, these are wonderful," she said in awe.

"Thanks, it's a hobby of mine. I'd like to sketch you and EJ if you don't mind."

Rose smiled. "Of course, as long as you have it framed and hang it on the wall."

The memories continued to move forward as they saw birthday celebrations, Otherstide (a sort of Gallifreyan Christmas) and various other happy occasions which brought them to the gardens of Lungbarrow House on a warm summer morning.

Rose recognised the formal clothing from the earlier memories and knew it was a wedding. Challese was in a simple, yet elegant white gown that fastened over one shoulder. The groom was in smart trousers and tunic and smiling fondly at his soon to be wife.

There was a young couple standing arm-in-arm next to the First Doctor that Rose hadn't seen in previous memories.

"Who are those people John?" she asked.

John laughed. "That's my Mum and Dad. They've regenerated since you last saw them.

Rose shook her head. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," she told him.

"Don't worry, you don't have to now. You're stuck with me the way I am."

Rose gently grabbed his face and gave him a snog. "Mmmm, thank God for that."

They watched the ceremony, which followed the same format of the First Doctor's. This time though it was the First Doctor and Juleshka saying 'I consent and gladly give'. The breath caught in Rose's throat as she looked at the old, grey haired woman hanging onto the First Doctor's arm.

She walked over and looked closely at the woman's face. She had the same steel blue eyes that looked at the First Doctor with love and devotion, and the same kind smile when she saw the love returned in the First Doctor's eyes.

"John?" she asked hesitantly. "What's goin' on? Shouldn't she have regenerated by now?"

John took a deep breath that shuddered in his chest as he prepared to explain.

"She couldn't," he said sadly. "When her parents disowned her, they took her Artron energy from her as a punishment."

"I thought they looked nasty," Rose said. "But that is downright evil. Who could do that to their own child?" Tears were stinging her eyes.

"They saw their children as currency in the upper echelons of Gallifreyan society, a way of furthering their influence. It was a punishment for Juleshka and a torture for me."

Rose remembered what he had told her once, outside a coffee shop near Deffry Vale High School. 'I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you... '.

"It was her, wasn't it? The love you watched wither and die?" Tears were trickling down her cheeks now. She had been so selfish before, wanting him to love her. She had promised him that she would stay with him forever, without realising what that really meant.

And here it was presented before her in stark reality. The raw wound of anguish and loss, the unforgiving inevitability of the passage of time.

"Oh Doctor," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea..." She stood up from the sofa and walked over to the fireplace, leaning on it for support as she cried her heart out.

Her body shook with sobs of grief for a woman who had been dead for centuries, and for the anguish of a man in another universe who lived with that memory.

John came to her and placed his right arm across her shoulders, EJ was still cradled in his left elbow. He pulled her into a gentle embrace, and together they wept.

When the wave of grief passed, Rose looked into John's eyes. He was smiling at her and he nodded down at their son.

"That was then, this is now, and he is our forever," he whispered, leaning forwards and gently kissing her lips. "I think that's enough reminiscing for now. You've seen most of those memories anyway."

"Oh no you don't," she told him, sniffing. "You said I need to know your past, how it shaped you into the person I came to love, and that memory has just proved it. I had no idea how just sayin' 'forever' could hurt you so much. So come on, give it up, I've dried my eyes."

John could hear Jackie in those words. He had realised a while ago where Rose's strength of character came from. They sat back down on the sofa and resumed the telepathic link.

The elderly, frail, bed bound figure of Juleshka was cradling her first grand daughter, surrounded by her family. The First Doctor was sat on the bed next to his wife with his arm around her, gently leaning over and kissing her hair.

"She lived long enough to see her first grand daughter," John said with a smile. "And that's a happy memory."

"Is that Susan, who first travelled with you?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, Susanatalisarachellenarisselungbarrowmas."

The bedroom slowly faded into a grassy plateau on the slopes of Mount Lung, with a breathtaking view of the Cadonflood River meandering down the valley.

A funeral pyre stood in the middle of the plateau with a shroud wrapped body lying on top. Family and friends stood around the pyre, some in silent contemplation, others gently weeping.

Cheresse was cradling Susan while her husband had his arm around her shoulder, comforting her as tears rolled down her cheeks. Their other children and their partners were also there, along with Ulysses and Penelope.

The First Doctor walked towards the pyre with a lit torch and turned to face his family. He held the torch in the air.

"Knowing others gave her wisdom.

Knowing herself gave her enlightenment.

She knew that mastering others requires force.

Yet mastering herself required strength.

She knew that she had enough and was rich with that knowledge.

Her perseverance was a sign of her willpower.

And standing her ground, she endured.

She may have passed away, but she will not be forgotten,

And so, she will be eternally present."

He turned back to the pyre and lit the tinder around the edge. Never taking his eyes off Juleshka's shrouded body he walked backwards into the arms of his family.

Rose heard John echo the words of the First Doctor when he said 'goodbye my love'.

The flames of the funeral pyre seemed to fade to black, as did the plateau and the Cadonflood valley.

"John?" Rose called out. No reply.

"John? Where are you? What's happening?"


	4. Chapter 4

Notes: This chapter borrows heavily from the novel Lungbarrow by Marc Platt. The Doctor revisits his second childhood and Rose finds more questions than answers.

**Chapter 4**

"John?" Rose called out. No reply.

"John? Where are you? What's happenin'?"

They were sitting on the sofa in the living room of their luxury home in Notting Hill, in the city of London which is in the British Isles on the planet Earth, and no longer on the planet Gallifrey.

"That was weird," Rose said. "It was like everythin' ceased to exist."

"Yeah," John said running his hand through his hair. "That's as far as those memories go. After that it all goes blank."

"What do you think it was? Memory wipe? Alternate time line?" she asked him.

"I really have no idea. I've been thinking about it for years and still don't know. I get the feeling though that I wasn't supposed to be able to remember those events."

"So what happens next then? How are things different?"

"Oh Rose," he laughed. "You have no idea. Imagine The Addams Family meets the Borgias. Ready?"

Rose nodded her head and off they went, back to a very different Lungbarrow House.

The first thing Rose noticed was the 'feel' of the house, it was 'off'. It was as though the house was sulking or brooding. John was right when he mentioned the Addams Family, she could almost hear the whistled tune and clicking fingers.

They were in a room full of pipes, tubes, cables and high tech equipment. Walls were covered with control panels and monitors that hummed and whirred, with the occasional hissing noise as a pressure release valve normalised pressure within the pipework.

In the centre of the room was an elongated 'egg', large enough to hold a person. A lot of the cables and pipework attached to this seemingly important piece of equipment.

"OK, where are we?" Rose asked him in that 'here we go again' tone of voice.

"This is the Lungbarrow loom room." He stopped and thought about it and then grinned. "Loom room, I like that, a room with a loom."

"John!?" He stopped and looked at her.

"Oh, right. Explanations. This is now after the fall of Pythia and all Gallifreyans are sterile. Wellll, when I say sterile, women still ovulated and men still... well you get the idea. But no eggs would fertilise, and no one knew why."

"Pythia's curse," Rose said.

"Yeah, that's what it was called. The loom was invented by Rassilon's scientists, it takes the genetic material from the eggs and sperms and combines it 'in vitro'. It then grows a person who is a fully grown adult with an infant's brain."

"It all feels wrong John. It's like Frankenstein's castle, there's an atmosphere of forebodin' hanging over the place."

"You can feel it can you? For me it was home, but having the other memories means I can feel the difference. The weird thing is though, I can remember being in there," He pointed at the 'egg' in the middle of the room.

"I can remember waiting to be born... It was like being all strung out. All unravelled inside the Loom. I was spread really thin… I couldn't think. Not put thoughts together.… But I knew where I was and what was happening. I couldn't wait to get out. And then I was born. My lungs nearly burst. The first rush of air was so cold... No one I told believed me, because it wasn't possible."

"Another mystery," Rose said slowly, deep in thought. "It's as though you time travelled from that funeral to this loom. How could you do that?"

"No idea, it couldn't be a TARDIS, people would see and hear it."

"What about a vortex manipulator that... Jack Harkness used? You don't think? No... It couldn't be... Could it?" Rose looked at John wide eyed and mouth open.

"No, definitely not!" He stopped and thought about it. "No, not Jack. No. There was this one mystery character called The Other, y'know, the one celebrated on Otherstide, he was from the time of Pythia."

"Could he have used a vortex manipulator? Or could he have been Jack?"

"No, I don't think he was Jack. I saw the shadowy figure once in a vision when I was in my seventh regeneration. Susan recognised him and thought it was the first me," he told her. "He had this device called 'The Hand of Omega', it could have been that I suppose. I'll explain about that later"

While they were thinking about this, they heard footsteps approaching and then the door burst open. 42 people filed into the room and made way for two elderly individuals who radiated authority.

"Ah here come the Borgias," John said with a smile. "Rose, these are my loom cousins. The elderly man there is Quinces, the 422nd Kithriarch of the House of Lungbarrow, the father of the house if you like. The rather stern looking old hag with the staff is Satthralope, she's the mother of the house and never really liked me."

Quinces moved over to a control console near the 'egg' and studied the display. "He is ready," he announced and pressed a sequence of buttons. There was a whirring and hissing as refrigeration gases vented from the loom and chilled the air.

The front of the loom moved forwards and upwards on jointed arms revealing a green glow behind the fog of gas. As the fog cleared, Rose could see the naked body of the First Doctor. He appeared to be the same age as the one at Juleshka's funeral.

The Housekeeper stepped forward and slapped her hand across the First Doctor's upper thigh. He gave a gasp, drew in a lung full of refrigerated air and let out a yell.

"Bitch," John muttered under his breath.

Various cousins started sniggering and pointing at the naked figure in the loom. Rose thought they were pointing and laughing at his manhood and felt they were being very unkind, as she had no complaints in that department. In fact... She started blushing at her next thought.

"Why are they laughin' at you?" she asked him, all confused.

"It's not that!" he said, waggling his eyebrows. That got her blushing even more. "I have a navel."

"What? And they don't?"

"No they don't. If you're grown in a loom, you don't need one. It's just another mystery about me."

"This is like that story about the prince who swaps places with a street urchin," Rose said. "You've been taken from a lovin' family and dumped... here."

"'The Prince And The Pauper', Mark Twain. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was his real name; he was a real joker he was. He got the idea for 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' from me," John rambled on.

"John. Can't you feel it? There's no love here like there was back there... wherever 'there' was."

John's face was impassive as he looked at his wife. "And now you know why I stole a TARDIS and ran away."

Quinces wrapped a gown around the new arrival and helped him out of the room.

"Aaagh! What the hell is that?" Rose screamed in surprise. A large, polished wooden man stood outside the door and picked up the First Doctor.

John laughed. "That'd be Lurch," he joked. "It's called a Drudge, a kind of mechanised servant."

They walked behind the Drudge as it carried its precious cargo through the house towards his room. The house looked pretty much the same as Rose had seen it in John's previous memories, but it felt completely different.

"The more I experience this John, the more it feels like the alternate reality that Donna created with that time beetle on her back."

"Really? That's very interesting. I wonder if The Other or The Hand of Omega had the power to create a different reality just for me, without changing other peoples perception of reality?"

"So you think it was one of them then?" Rose asked.

"I still don't know, but they're the prime suspects."

Rose looked back at the cousins who were now drifting off in various directions.

"So what are they like then these cousins of yours?"

"Quinces was kind and nurturing, I think I was his favourite because I was such a genius. He wanted me to become Lord Cardinal, but I just wanted to get out and explore," he started to explain.

"Growing up, I was closest to Innocet." He pointed to a young woman with red braided hair, walking away from them. They walked into another memory as sunlight dazzled on the leaves and on the river.

They heard the clacking antlers of jousting neversuch beetles. The First Doctor poked one beetle, almost a hand long, with a cut reed. It droned its flightless wings and snapped at the reed with its mandibles. He poked it again and watched it scuttle for cover.

There was a cry of despair behind them. They turned and saw a young woman struggling down the sandy bank to the shore. It was Innocet, looking about twenty years old. Her robe, absurdly heavy for such an expedition, had caught on a thorny root. It was riding up, showing off her underskirts.

She scolded the First Doctor as he laughed. She tried to pull herself free, but the basket she carried tipped up and tipped berries all down the bank.

Her footing slipped and she slithered down after them, landing with a squelchy thump.

"We'll be late for supper," she said, as she tried to flatten down her wayward skirts, she was laughing as well.

They continued following the Drudge. "She looked out for me and stood up to Satthralope when I got into trouble. Glospin over there." He pointed to a black haired individual with a cane who looked like the achetypal villain.

"He was the old hag's favourite, he was a scheming bully and actually murdered Quinces in an attempt to become the next Kithriarch. He tried to frame me for his murder and threatened to expose me as an interloper into the Lungbarrow loom."

"What, you mean he knew you'd been inserted into the loom somehow?"

"No, I don't think so, but he was a geneticist and he found that my DNA didn't quite match the other cousins. It's like I'm some sort of cuckoo."

"Isn't that more evidence for you being time travelled into the loom or somethin'?"

"Yeah, I suppose it is, but we still don't know by whom or for what reason."

"The rest of them were fairly OK I suppose, just like any other family I suppose."

"And what was your childhood like this time?"

"It was OK actually, I didn't remember my past life at this point, so I had nothing to compare with it. Oh, and I underwent my brainbuffing."

Rose giggled. "You mean they take your brain out and give it a polish?"

John laughed. "No, all loomlings have eight years of brainbuffing, it fills your head with stuff you need to know to be an adult."

They were now in a classroom with the First Doctor, and a large, furry, curly horned badger, who appeared to be teaching him the history of Gallifrey.

"Ahhh, there's Badger look, he was my tutor. He was an avatroid that Quinces programmed and gave to me, we became really good friends."

"Your tutor was a robot badger?" Rose asked suspiciously. Was he making these memories up?

"Yeah, it was great. Because I was such a genius, I saw it as part of my education to work around his logic circuits, baffle him and then skip class to go and play with my cousins."

The scene changed again. They were now in the Citadel, but it was different to how Rose remembered it from his previous memories. It was still beautiful, in that alien sort of way, but the architecture was different.

John saw the look on her face and explained.

"They rebuilt the city after the fall of Pythia and the student rebellion. I came to live here while I studied at the academy, and then got a job in the Chapterhouse's Bureau of Possibility when I finally graduated."

Rose bumped his shoulder and grinned. "Who'd have thought it, you havin' a job an' livin' in a city."

"Yeah. And I hated it. I wanted to be out there." He looked up at the apricot sky. "It may have been some previous memories bleeding through. But I felt I was just biding my time until I could escape."

He ran his hand through his hair in that unconscious gesture of his.

"Anyway I quit that job after a few decades, my bosses disagreed with my overzealous political involvements. After that I became a Scrutationary Archivist at the Bureau of Continual Observation until my past caught up with me and I managed to leave."


	5. Chapter 5

Notes: OK, so this is the final chapter. Sorry it's been a short story but trying to tie all the loose ends together makes your brain hurt. Rose finally sees the Doctor's life come full circle and has as many questions as she does answers. I hope this works. Thanks to Tardis Data Core and Marc Platt.

**Chapter 5**

John was explaining to Rose how events precipitated his departure from Gallifrey.

"What do you mean, 'your past caught up with you'?" Rose asked.

They left the colonnades known as Gesyevva's Fingers and faded into an untidy study, full of old-fashioned books and papers. At a desk sat the First Doctor. His white hair was swept back over his head. He wore a dark-green tunic. Perched on his nose was a pair of multifocal spectacles.

"This is the time when I received a summons from Quences to return to Lungbarrow for the reading of his will. I think he wanted me to become the 423rd Kithriarch, which would have meant me being tied to the house for the rest of my life. At the same time, I had a refusal for promotion from the Registrar of Continual Observation, and I'm sure Quences had a hand in that."

As they watched the scene, there was a bump outside the door. There was a second bump and something as big as a coffin slid through the surface of the closed door. It was a battered, black casket floating about waist-high above the carpet.

The First Doctor grasped his cane and approached the object.

It whirred and clicked at him. Little pulses of UV shifted on its surface.

He tapped it gingerly with his cane. It whined plaintively like a lost animal.

"Shoo," he said, "whatever you are. Go on, you unpleasant object. Go away."

"What the hell is that?" Rose asked, moving forward and scrutinising the object.

"That my love, is the 'Hand of Omega', a stellar manipulator that allowed the Time Lords to harness the power of a star."

"What? You mean it's like the heart of the TARDIS?"

"Yep, except this one's in a box. It was created by a great galactic engineer called Peylix, later known as Omega, and for some reason it attached itself to me. I didn't know what it was at first, and it defied all attempts to identify it, but it protected me and kept me safe."

The room around them became a scene of chaos with torn papers and books scattered all over the place. The First Doctor was trying to gather up the mess and sort the papers. A tall dark man stood in the door way, leaning on a cane.

"I recognise him," Rose said. "Isn't he the one you said murdered Quences and tried to frame you?"

"Yeah, that's him, cousin Glospin. He's come to tell me I'm a loom cuckoo."

"Otherstide felicitations," Glospin said with an evil grin.

"What's this, Cousin? A name-day treat? Hmm?" He raised his chin in a way that Rose had seen her husband do countless times when facing adversity.

"I'm no Cousin of yours, remember?" Glospin replied.

"How could I forget?"

"So I hope you weren't considering a visit to your former home."

"Charmed, I'm sure." The First Doctor gathered up a fistful of papers. "You come all this way, after all this time, when you must be due at the House yourself. What's the matter? Afraid of losing your inheritance!"

"My assumption as new Kithriarch has never been more assured," said Glospin. "Quences is senile. But don't entertain the delusion that anyone else wants you back. You have already been replaced."

The First Doctor gave an involuntary gasp of shock. "Impossible..." He reached to his desk for support. "And illegal too."

"A little premature, I felt. But with a few chosen words in suitable places..." He smiled. "And so I deemed it a courtesy to clarify a few outstanding matters first." He reached inside his robe. Rose gripped John's arm as she expected a weapon to be drawn.

They watched him take a document from his robe. "Your Loom Certification."

"What now?" the First Doctor asked in a bored voice.

"I was studying the document recently when I discovered some anomalies in your genetic codings."

The First Doctor snatched away the document.

"That's all right, Wormhole," said Glospin smoothly. "It's just a copy. But if you look, you will see that your codes are entirely out of sympathy with the Lungbarrow Loom's genetic template."

"Wormhole?" Rose asked. John poked his finger in his navel and wiggled it. "Oh," Rose nodded.

"Nonsense." The First Doctor's face sharpened with irritation as he studied the document. "This is some childish attempt to complete my severance from the Family."

"I undertook this purely out of my interests as a geneticist. But of course, due to the Family circumstances..."

"Insulting."

"It's not entirely unheard of. People renew their regenerative cycles by jumping Looms, thus being reborn into new Families. Was that your plan, Wormhole? You certainly never belonged to Lungbarrow's Loom. Or do you come from further a field?"

He was drawing closer, scrutinising the First Doctor like some laboratory specimen. "In short, exactly who or what are you?"

"Who?" the First Doctor exploded. "I don't know what petty loophole you've dug up, Glospin. But I am your Cousin. And don't think I'm not aware of your nasty Gallifreyan Allegiance proclivities. Or your involvement with the Intervention Agency."

"Not exactly true," said the persecutor, smiling. "But I am ready to fascinate them with my discovery. . . for the correct remuneration."

"Insanity!" The First Doctor shook his head. "Haven't you had enough from me already?"

"No," said Glospin. "I want everything."

"Out! Get out!" shouted the First Doctor. He raised his stick and brought it down on Glospin. But his opponent was ready to give as he good as he got. They watched as the two men started grappling each other.

The box came through the wall with a crash. Glospin screamed as a flare of light scorched his right arm. He stared at the box, choking with pain. "I'll see you ruined! Lungbarrow will never take you back again!" The box slid towards him, but he fell at the door and stumbled out into the Citadel.

"Lies." The First Doctor was shaking. His cheek was bleeding where Glospin had clawed him. He swept his cane across the litter of damaged books. The strewn wreckage of a life's work. "Lies."

From the city outside came a new jangle of alarms. The Hand of Omega always set off the alarms. The box hovered by the open door, clicking excitedly.

"What are you?" demanded the First Doctor. In answer, the thing opened its lid. Inside sat a fierce, icy-white furnace. As the First Doctor stared into it, his frightened expression turned to astonishment and wonder.

His voice trembled. "Of course, of course. Extraordinary. I understand. But why choose me?"

"That light!" Rose exclaimed. "I've seen it before, when Margaret the Slitheen looked into the heart of the TARDIS."

"Yes, and once more after that," John said, remembering when she had returned to Satellite Five to save him from the Daleks.

"So, this was the impetus I needed to finally make a break for it. I threw a few personal belongings and keepsakes in a bag, and headed for the TT embarkation port on Under-level 15 of the Citadel."

The scene changed again and they were in the dry dimension dockyard on the next level up from the TT embarkation port, as it had been heavily guarded. On a neural construction palette stood a gleaming new TARDIS ready for service installation.

A brochure listed its immaculate specifications and latest safety features - a remote recall override system. "A type fifty-three?"' complained the First Doctor. "You're not getting me out in one of those new-fangled soulless slip-abouts."

In a far corner, surrounded by junk, was a dull grey, battered old TT booth with an obsolete Type 40 marker on the door. The key was in the lock. As the First Doctor stepped inside the doomed TARDIS, they heard a fresh clamour of alarms from close by.

"Is that what the TARDIS looks like without it's chameleon circuit?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. It's been left to 'die' so that they can recycle all the components once the heart is cold."

"Oh that's so sad," Rose said. She remembered the warmth and the gentle soul of the TARDIS that had welcomed her on board all those years ago.

Beyond its tight dimensional gate, the ship's interior opened out impossibly. Its spacious console room was gloomy and neglected. A cobweb lifted and rippled on the central console. Several panels had been lifted off to expose the complex inner circuitry.

"This is very 'retro'," Rose commented.

They watched the First Doctor tear away the cobwebs and blow off the dust. Instantly, the sluggish hum of power edged up a tone. A gold light began to glimmer weakly behind the honeycomb of roundels that covered the walls. The place felt welcoming. The First Doctor put down his bag.

"Oooh John, I can feel her, it's your old TARDIS!"

"Yep, that's my old girl before she redecorated."

There were banks of instruments around the room and a couple of overturned chairs. Beyond a door, there was the glimpse of a shadowy passage leading deeper into the infinite depths beyond.

He examined the control panel and selected the brass button marked DOOR. There was no response. The power was all but drained. The light guttered and the ship's hum died.

"At this point, I think I should explain that I had no idea how to fly a TT capsule," John said.

"Hey, don't forget, I've travelled with you. D'ya think you 'ever' had an idea how to fly one?" She had her tongue between her teeth as she flashed him her mischievous smile.

"Oi," he said with a playful smile. He was about to resume the memory show, when his phone started playing the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars.

"Jackie! What can I do for you?" John asked in a cheerful voice, grinning at Rose on the sofa next to him.

Rose watched him listening to her mother and then he put the phone against his chest.

"She wants to know if they can come over and do we want them to bring pizza?"

Rose nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah of course they can come over, and pizza would be great. It means we don't have to cook."

He put the phone back to his ear. "That'll be great Jackie, we'll have a Dalai Lama," he said with a twinkle in his eye. Rose knew what was coming next, it was his favourite food joke.

Jackie must have asked what a Dalai Lama pizza was because John laughed. "One with everything…. Hee hee. See you all later, bye."

He put his phone down, kissed his son's head and continued the memory.

They watched the First Doctor drum his fingers in frustration, when something whooshed in through the door. The black box was suddenly hovering beside him.

"Yes, I wondered when you'd catch up with me," he said. "So you think you can come along too, do you? Well, that's all very well, my friend. But since we have neither the luxury of a pilot nor of any power, perhaps you can suggest a way to fly this thing."

The box whirred. Its lid opened a crack. The white furnace inside winked at him. They could feel its energy softly saturating the air. The ship gradually began to hum again. A more confident, assertive hum.

The light in the room began to rise. A screen attached to the ceiling flickered into life, showing a group of Agency guards moving methodically across the dock area outside. One of them carried a gun.

The First Doctor pressed the DOOR button again. This time, the heavy double doors buzzed and swung shut. The central glass column of the console juddered.

The complex instruments inside turned back and forth. Lights twinkled among the circuits. By now, the ship was throbbing with energy. "Remarkable, remarkable!" enthused the First Doctor. "All this power, from an ancient antiquity!"

There was a loud clang. On the screen, they could see the guards gathering around the ship.

"Well, it appears that my future is in your hands ... or should I say Hand, eh? Hmm?" His shoulders heaved with little gusts of mirth.

A light showed beside an unmarked dial. The Doctor glanced at the box. It gleeped at him. He reached out and gave the dial a twist.

John and Rose grinned at each other. "Here we go again," he said as he held her hand.

The air grated with the roar of engines. An undulating grinding like something tearing open the fabric of reality. The glass column rose and fell, its inner carousel of instruments turning. Switches and levers adjusted by themselves. The ship jolted and the screen picture vanished.

The First Doctor turned pale and fell against one of the chairs. Then the commotion stopped. The column sank and fell silent. The light dimmed and a voice spoke out of the air.

'This ship is on an unauthorized vector. Transportation into the Backtime of the Gallifreyan continuum is forbidden. You are being tractored back to Time Traffic Control for further questioning.'

The First Doctor, already on hands and knees, turned to the box. "Where were you taking me? Hmm?"

The ship shook and the light turned red.

"Well? This is a fine pickle," he complained. "So what do you intend to do about it?"

The box rose steadily in the air. It whirred across the console room and hovered its bulk above the glass column. The air started to thrum. The First Doctor covered his ears as red light flickered around him.

'Warning!' They could still hear the voice. 'The resistance of a recall summons is an offence. You cannot breach the Backtime Field Buffers. Abandon this vector immediately!'

A trembling seized the ship. Forces wrenched at its structure. The box opened its lid wide.

'Warning! Contact with the Backtime Field Buffers will disengage the dimensions of this ship. Retur-' The cloister bell began to ring through the bowels of the ship.

The box gave a shriek. The First Doctor hit the floor as an icy sunburst engulfed the room. John and Rose covered their eyes from the glare, the flower of white flame hung for a moment. Then space and other dimensions outside time folded around it and tucked it neatly out of harm's way.

When the glare subsided, they could see the First Doctor lying on his back staring at the ceiling. The steady hum of the TARDIS was gently soothing. He sat up. The glass column rose and fell with the pulse of flight. Lozenges of vortical light streaked across the scanner.

"Well," he said, feeling for broken bones, "and where exactly are you taking me?"

The box edged in beside him. It clucked and chirruped with something resembling a contented familiarity.

He looked startled. "Home? What do you mean 'home'? I don't want to go home. I can never go home again."

Rose looked at John, puzzled and confused. "You're going back to Lungbarrow? But I thought Glospin had framed you for murder."

"No Rose, you misunderstand, the Hand of Omega took me 'home'."

They followed the First Doctor out of the doors and found they were in exactly the same place. Rose looked around, completely baffled.

"It's when we are, not where," John told her as they followed the First Doctor out of the embarkation port and into the Citadel.

Rose looked up and could see the upper city spanning the lower on vast arches. These were crowned by further arches and bridges, all of them carrying buildings and gardens, domes and belfries. They had come full circle, they were back in the old city before the fall of Pythia.

"I have no idea how the Hand of Omega did it, or what happened after Juleshka's funeral, or even why it did it," he sighed.

"Rose, your family have arrived," Donna-the-house announced.

"Thanks Donna, can you let them in please?" Rose replied.

"No problem."

John gently stood up and lowered EJ into his carrycot and opened the living room door. Tony was the first one through and John scooped him up into a spinning hug.

While he was held high, Tony looked up to the ceiling.

"Hello Donna," he said happily.

"Hello you little monkey," Donna-the-house said back. Tony chuckled at being called a monkey.

John leaned over and kissed Jackie on the cheek as she came through the door to greet her daughter and he lowered Tony to the floor.

"Hi Pete," John said slapping him on the back and directing him to the dining room with the boxes of pizza's. "I'll just get some plates."

They sat in the dining room eating slices of 'Dalai Lama' pizza, chatting, laughing and joking. EJ snoozed in his carrycot by Rose. John had a warm feeling inside, never believing that he would ever do domestic again.

That was until he had met Rose. Her love, understanding and compassion had taught him that he could enjoy a family life again without sadness, guilt or pain.

"John's been telling me about his early life on Gallifrey," Rose told them as they were on the last few slices of pizza.

"I bet that's an eye opener," Jackie said raising an eyebrow and hoping for some alien gossip.

"And before you ask Mum, it's personal and John is a private person," Rose said, intercepting her mother's next words.

John smiled at Rose as he reached over to squeeze her hand. "It's OK love, they're family now, and to be honest, I feel a weight has been lifted off my shoulders by telling you."

They finished their meal and went back to the living room, while John went to fetch something from his study. When he returned he had an A3 sketch pad and a bunch of pencils.

Donna-the-house had put 'Toby the Tank Engine' on the TV for Tony and John got them all to sit on the sofa while he sat in one of the comfy chairs by the fire and started to draw.

Rose started filling them in on what she had just learned about her husband's past as EJ was cuddled and passed around.

"You might need to take notes," John said with a laugh. "It gets a bit complicated."

As Rose was telling them his story, occasionally Jackie would look over at John with looks of concern, admiration and even... love. She suspected he had been a rebel and a 'wild child', but had no idea about the troubles in his early life, all two of them.

EJ woke up in Pete's arms and started to niggle.

"I think someone's ready for some food," Rose said, taking the offered individual from her father.

"Doesn't he like pizza?" Tony asked them, and couldn't understand why they were laughing. He looked to John for an explanation.

John tapped his teeth with his pencil. "No teeth," he said with a knowing nod. Tony nodded his head in a grown up, understanding way.

Rose turned away, unbuttoned her blouse and attached EJ to her breast. A sudden thought entered her head and she looked over her shoulder at John.

"Don't even think about it," she said with a smile. John just gave her a mischievous grin.

"I won't," he reassured her. "Not until you've got your figure back, anyway."

"What's he eating then?" Tony asked. Pete and John stifled a laugh as Jackie rolled her eyes to the heavens. 'Do little boys ever grow up' she tutted to herself.

"His mummy has got some food for him in her blouse," she explained.

"So John, we've come full circle and you're back in your original time in Gallifrey. Is there any more to the story?" Rose asked over her shoulder. EJ was guzzling away happily in her arms.

"Time had passed in this reality so that I was the age I was supposed to be. I was still a Scrutationary Archivist at the Bureau of Continual Observation, and still wanted to follow my brother out into the big wide universe."

"Talking of your brother, what happened to your family?" Pete asked him.

"Well, that's another weird thing. I didn't know I had a brother at the time, but I remember the feelings of wanting to go with him on his travels. My memories started to filter back over time. My parents had left Gallifrey and moved to Earth where they happily lived out the rest of their lives."

EJ finished his feed and Rose started patting his back. John carefully tore off the sheet of paper and continued to sketch on a clean sheet as he told the rest of his story.

"I found my granddaughter Susan, or Arkytior as she was then. Well, to be honest, she found me during the civil unrest that led to the overthrow of Pythia. I didn't remember her at the time but she convinced me that I was her grandfather."

John's voice took on a sad tone. "Susan told me that her mother Challese had died soon after Juleska's funeral and her father died in a bow-ship, fighting the Great Vampires. Susan was looked after by her nanny, Mamlaurea and my 'other' self."

Rose looked concerned but John gave her a reassuring smile He was OK now, he was going to finish this.

"Apparently I had sent Susan off-world to stay with Mamlaurea's family, but the spaceport was disabled by the rebels. She ended up living on the streets of the undercity while I was living at the Bureau, completely unaware of her existence. I still feel guilty about that, even though I couldn't do anything about it."

He took a cleansing breath and smiled. "It all worked out in the end though. We got back to the embarkation port, and there had been more obsolete TT capsules added. I nearly chose the wrong one, but a mysterious young woman pointed me to 'my old girl' and we escaped the fall of Pythia."

John put his pencil down and then started to show his sketches. The first was of proud grandmother Jackie looking lovingly at her grandson.

"I always think a photograph gives you the recipe for the moment, but a sketch? That can give you the flavour," John said as he handed the sketch to Jackie.

"Oh John, this is wonderful. You've caught the emotions on the paper." Jackie could feel tears in her eyes.

The next sketch he handed to Pete and everyone craned their necks to look at it. If you turned the lights off in the room, you would still have been able to see Pete's smile on the paper.

"Thanks John, no really, thank you. I shall treasure this." He looked at Jackie. "We'll get these framed and put up on the wall at home."

His next sketch showed Tony and EJ with cheeky grins on their faces. This showed their future potential for mischief together.

The final sketch showed all the Tylers together on the sofa with EJ being held by his mother in the middle. That was going above the fireplace John decided.

Pete had been ruminating on the story he had heard and was trying to organise his thoughts.

"So you were born on Gallifrey to Ulysses and Penelope?" he asked, holding up his thumb.

"Yep," John replied.

"And you got married, had children and grandchildren and forgot about it?" Pete extended his index finger.

"Yep."

"You wake up naked in a refrigerator as a member of the Addams Family?" He holds out his middle finger.

"That sounds like the morning after a stag do if you ask me," Jackie said with a smirk.

John laughed. "Yep."

"And a black coffin flew you in a time machine back to your past and replaced you with you?" Ring finger extended.

"Er, yeah."

"And you have no idea who, how or why?"

"Yep, I mean nope," John corrected himself.

"Well that explains a lot," Pete said sarcastically, giving John a big grin.

Rose suddenly spotted a gap in the memories from Pete's summary.

"John, what if, from the time of Juleshka's funeral to the time you wake up in the loom, you were this 'Other' person, on some preordained mission."

"Hey, y'know you might be onto something there love. It would explain a lot of the missing bits of the story," John said, smiling at his brilliant Rose. When the chips were down, she always seemed to be able to see what he couldn't.

"It's a mystery," Rose said. "But that's good. John said himself 'day I know everything? Might as well stop'. I mean, look at Jack the Ripper, no one will never know who he was."

"What? you mean you don't... know?" John looked at the astonished faces looking at him.

"You mean you know who it was?" Rose asked him in surprise.

"Hello? Spaceman with a time machine," Donna-the-house said in a 'are you all thick or what' tone of voice.

"Er, it was my seventh regeneration, and I think I've already said too much."

"So who was it?" Jackie asked him.

John smiled and shook his head. "Some mysteries are best left alone so that they can become legends."

He drew an imaginary zip across his lips.

**The End**


End file.
